उपनिषद् · Praśna 3.1
॥
देवनागरी
अथ हैनं कौसल्यश् चाश्वलायनः पप्रच्छ ।
भगवन् कुत एष प्राणो जायते ।
कथम् आयात्य् अस्मिन् शरीरे ।
आत्मानं वा प्रविभज्य कथं प्रातिष्ठते ।
केनोत्क्रमते ।
कथं बाह्यम् अभिधत्ते ।
कथम् अध्यात्मम् इति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
atha hainaṃ kausalyaś cāśvalāyanaḥ papraccha |
bhagavan kuta eṣa prāṇo jāyate |
katham āyāty asmin śarīre |
ātmānaṃ vā pravibhajya kathaṃ prātiṣṭhate |
kenotkramate |
kathaṃ bāhyam abhidhatte |
katham adhyātmam iti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अथ हatha hathen indeed; after this
एनम्enamit; to Him
कौसल्यः च आश्वलायनःkausalyaḥ ca āśvalāyanaḥKausalya Āśvalāyana; Āśvalāyana of Kosala
पप्रच्छpapracchaasked; put a question
भगवन्bhagavanO venerable one; O master
कुतःkutaḥwhence; from what source
एषः प्राणःeṣaḥ prāṇaḥthis prāṇa; this life-force
जायतेjāyateis born (from √jan); arises; comes about
कथम्kathamhow; in what manner
आयातिāyāticomes in, arrives (ā-√yā); steps in; arrives
अस्मिन् शरीरेasmin śarīreinto this body; in this body
आत्मानम् वाātmānam vāhimself indeed; his own being
प्रविभज्यpravibhajyahaving parted; having distributed
कथम्kathamhow; in what manner
प्रातिष्ठतेprātiṣṭhateis established (prati-√ṣṭhā); becomes established; takes its station
केनkenathrough what; by which
उत्क्रामतेutkrāmategoes out (ud-√kram); departs [from the body]; leaves
कथम्kathamhow; in what manner
बाह्यम्bāhyamthe outer; the world outside
अभिधत्तेabhidhattehe embraces (abhi-√dhā — 'to encompass'); he holds; sustains
कथम्kathamhow; in what manner
अध्यात्मम् इतिadhyātmam iti'the inner', thus; asking 'within the body'
अनुवाद
Then Kausalya Āśvalāyana asked him: "Venerable one, whence is this prāṇa born? How does it come into this body? How, having divided itself, does it take its station? By what does it go out? How does it embrace the outer, and how the inner?"
संस्करण
843e7724184b · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 8:35:21 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The third question is the most meticulous in the Upaniṣad: six "hows" about one prāṇa. kuta eṣa prāṇo jāyate — "whence is prāṇa born?": a question that strikes the exact point after the hymn of the second question: if prāṇa is the "mother" and "father" of everything, is she born or unborn? katham āyāty asmin śarīre — "how does she enter the body?"; how does she divide and take her station; kenotkramate — "by what does she go out [at death]?"; how does she hold the outer world and how the inner?
This is a question of a scientific cast: Kausalya wants not praise but a map — source, entry, distribution, exit, the limits of operation. And the Upaniṣad answers him with a map (verses 3.3–3.10, the most systematic treatise on prāṇa in all the early Upaniṣads): reverence does not abolish precision, nor precision reverence.
But note the order of the question's parts: first stands "whence is she born" — and precisely that answer will overturn everything: prāṇa will prove to be born — from the Ātman. The hymn sang to prāṇa as sovereign; the third question will disclose that the sovereign is the servant of the Highest. So the Upaniṣad leads: from energy to the Source of energy.